


Here, The River Divides

by Shigan



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Family, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, Happily Ever After?, What-If, parental figures doesnt have to suck, relationships are hard, small changes big consequences
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27336079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shigan/pseuds/Shigan
Summary: Small changes might have large consequences.A mother rode a little faster.A stone united into godly power have consequences, no matter who the user might be.Old legends of witchlings creep across the land.A series of short stories, not necessarily connected, about the many ways Rapunzel and Cassandra come together across different timelines. And while their story and fates might change, their destiny to meet and collide and irrecoverably change each other rarely do.
Relationships: Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 54





	Here, The River Divides

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: Cyn, all yay. Seriously, she's awesome.
> 
> If you don't like the Cassunzel ship you're in the wrong story. Everyone else, grab a drink!

####  **If Gothel had been a little faster**

The violent, cracking sound of the front door being thrown open snapped the child awake from atop the windowsill. 

“Cassandra, we have to go, _now!_ ”

“Mama?” She blinked sleepily, looking up at the hooded figure of her mother. Her mother looked different, _old_ , like she sometimes did before going away on a special trip. She was just so sleepy, having stayed up late to wait. Her music box felt like lead in her hands.

“ _Stupid_ child, just come to me!” Gothel near yelled, her distress evident while looking behind her. Cassandra felt herself being lifted off the floor with one arm as her mother turned and ran. She didn’t even get to her shoes. The world was suddenly cold winds and dark woods as mama shoved her atop a nervous sounding horse before hauling herself up. 

They rode hard. Cassandra clung to her mother’s coat the best she could, shivering in and out of the chill nightwind and drowsiness, not daring to question the urgency of their distress. She thought there were distant sounds of other horses and men yelling, flicking in and out of her dreams.

Not until the next morning did she notice that she had dropped her precious music box. That stung, because even in her young mind Cassandra understood that the home she had known was gone and they were never going back. It was also then she noticed the small bundle in her mother’s arms, wrapped in a shawl of deep, pretty purple.

***

Their new home was far away.

This was the only thing Cassandra understood since they had been riding for days. She was tired, and feverish since she had nothing warm to wear through the nights except for staying huddled in Gothel’s cape. Her mama had clicked her tongue in annoyance at her glassy eyes when she felt her temperature. They did not slow down.

They arrived at a tower in the end. Or so Cassandra believed. She was falling in and out of fever dreams at that point. Mother put her in a rickety, wooden bed and went to start a fire.

She woke briefly during the night and noticed she wasn’t alone in the bed. The purple bundle which mother had carried with her at all times lay beside her. Vivid green eyes and a chubby baby fist peeked out from beneath the folds of rich cloth. 

She caught a glimpse of gold, as bright and warm as the sun, before she fell to a merciful slumber.

***

Cassandra was decisively _not_ happy. 

Gothel was gone again. Again! Simply disappearing for weeks after telling her to tend to their small cottage in the woods, leaving her with barely enough provisions to last. She would have to go fishing again, and take the long hike to the nearest village to barter for flour. Hey, if she was lucky maybe even sneak a look at the smith’s daughter who had thrown her smiling, warm glances during her last visit. Or she would set traps or go hunting, anything really, was better than sitting at home and waving a practice sword in the yard.

Gathering her things, cloak, bow, waterskin and what little food she could afford, she was off. She didn’t even bother to sweep the porch. 

It was a nice day. The morning sun broke gently through the tree crowns, adding dapples of light to thick pines and juniper. Judging by the warmth, the day would be scorcher. This made it ill fit for fishing and even less for the long hike out of the woods. 

Cassandra reached a divide in the forest only she could see, gave a brief, mournful thought to the sandy-haired girl and her smile, then set out on the path that would take her deeper into the forest.

Of course, mother didn’t want her anywhere near any of those places. She loathed her going to the villages even at the threat of starvation and tried to scare her away from the northern woods, beholding her with tales of ruffians and beasts. It was all the woman wanted was to confine her to the woodlands near their home. Countless fruitless arguments and Cassandra was none the less wiser as to why. By the many books she owned, the world out there was a vast place and one day she would set out to see it for herself, paranoid mothers be damned.

After some time of tracking, she set her attention on a small herd of deer, a large buck with several smaller does. The forest grew thicker as she ventured deeper into the woods and she noticed how the sun had passed its zenith. And just when she thought she might be catching up to her prey, the forest divided and the trees fell to a clearing.

Cassandra gasped when she stepped out into the open. She was at the base of the northern mountains, where mother had warned her to never go. The land opened up into a field of tall, lush grass and several creeks. A high hill enclosed by tall, almost vertical walls of rock spread out before her, and on top of it, a lone tower stood. It was a peculiar building, derelict in appearance and crudely built out of sheared chunks of rock. Moss and vegetation clung to most of the lower walls. The top heavy construction looked like it might topple any second, as if it was being held together by magic. 

She walked closer, getting a weird sense of familiarity about the place. She walked all the way to the base where no visible door could be seen. Small disturbances in the foliage and a few barely visible tracks pointed her to a particularly overgrown part of the wall. 

That was as far as her investigations got however as something reminiscent of a battlecry was heard from the building high above, followed by a bonk. The body of what looked like a large snake flew out from one of the windows and crashed to the ground beside her. 

Cassandra blinked. She looked up and her eyes met with a trail of golden blonde hair, and the face of an equally surprised _girl_. 

***

Rapunzel had wondered through many lonely nights what her first words with another person who was not mother might be like. Would it be a friendly conversation? Would she make a friend? Someone she could talk to about art, and books and cooking? Or would she make a fool out of herself?

She had definitely not expected this.

The glum looking older girl heaved herself into her window using a pair of arrows. She was as gangly as a beanstalk but moved as agile as a cat. She looked Rapunzel up and down, eyes resting a bit warily at the frying pan in her hand. 

“So, um, do you have food?”

***

“Do you want to go down?”

Cassandra asked one day after she hauled herself through the window. Rapunzel had tossed down her hair to help her climb the last bit. They had found a rhythm to her visits, both knowing instinctively that they needed to avoid their respective “mother” to find out. Dressed in travel tunics of black and green, the older girl looked every bit a seasoned adventurer. She even had a dagger! Rapunzel felt small compared with her, but not in a bad way. She felt like she wanted to follow Cass into the big, wide world, to find treasures and ride dragons or something, like in books.

She blinked owlishly at the question.

“Is that... ok?” She asked. “Will you take me?”

Cassandra shrugged and smiled in the way she only did when Rapunzel had said something particularly weird or funny, then she reached out her hand for her to take.

“There are poppies blooming by the river, I thought you might want to see.” Cassandra replied, and Rapunzel thought she looked a bit softer around her large, dark eyes.

***

They explored the woods, ran though the meadows and jumped into the creeks. Cassandra taught her to track animals and swim. Rapunzel would chase Cassandra with flowers in her hair. Sometimes, Cassandra would even let the younger girl catch her and wrestle her to the ground.

They were both careful, knowing the probable consequences of being caught. Over time, they learnt to use signals. Rapunzel would leave a lantern in the window when her mother was home, Cassandra would send Owl to let her know she was fine.

A few days of wait was worth the price of the other’s company.

***

“What’s that on your neck?” Rapunzel asked one day as they were swimming in the creek. It had been years since Cassandra first came upon the tower and Rapunzel was now skilled enough a swimmer to go into the deeper parts. The sun was shearing today which kept them in the leafy shades of a great willow tree. 

Cassandra blushed and tried to cover the purple-ish mark on her neck with her hand. To late. Rapunzel pulled her arm away to get a closer look.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

No, of course not. Cassandra tried her best to explain her last visit to the village and her run-in with a certain girl who in fact had grown up into a young woman. Rapunzel’s chest suddenly twisted with an ugly, dark feeling she had never known.

“She kissed you.” It was not a question, and Cassandra thought Rapunzel’s otherwise melodic voice sounded unusually flat. She looked deeply in thought for a few moments, then knit her brows, as if she was fighting against something. She met Cassandra’s downtrodden eyes, and smirked. 

“She didn’t do it right.” Rapunzel said, looking a bit smug. Then, she leaned forwards and pushed her lips against Cassandra’s.

“That’s how you do it.” The younger girl said factually after breaking away. “I read it in a book.”

Cassandra had gone stiff from the contact. Because Rapunzel had very much been pressed against her with a body that was quickly growing into itself. She wished she had something witty to say, but her thoughts were drowned out by the violent beat of her heart and the sound of water. The only thing she could think of was that she wanted to do it again.

***

“We should leave.” Rapunzel said one day. Her head resting against the flat of Cassandra’s stomach as they watched the clouds and birds above. “I want to see what the rest of the world is like.”

“Where do you want to go?” Cassandra asked. Not even bothering to discuss if they should or not. She ran her fingers through Rapunzel’s impossibly long hair.

“Everywhere.” Rapunzel mused. The older girl chuckled. “But maybe we could start with Corona? It’s the closest kingdom to here, and oh, I think that’s the direction of all those lanterns that show up every year.”

They looked at each other. It was settled then.

*** 

They prepared slowly and cautiously. Rapunzel was excited but hid it surprisingly well.

Cassandra came to the tower before the break of dawn and saw no lantern in the window. A travel satchel and a frying pan dropped out and nearly hit her as soon as she whistled her whereabouts. The girl herself came down much slower, dressed in her usual dress and cape, a rich, deep purple shawl embroidered with suns around her shoulders beneath. Cassandra caught her around the waist when she was finally within reach. 

“My hero.” Rapunzel giggled.

Cassandra rolled her eyes but returned the merriment, both of them excited but nervous about what they were about to do.

“I couldn’t have done this without you.” Rapunzel whispered, as if her voice alone would summon mother back to her prison.

“I don’t want to do this without you.” Cassandra replied, because once she tasted flight her eyes were ever bound skyward, to the sun that was Rapunzel’s spirit.

They walked to the treeline where Rapunzel cast a last look at the only home she had known for all her life, taking in the beauty of its scenery and all the familiar places she knew as her own. Then she turned around to Cassandra and what the future might hold. She clasped their hands together, and set out to never again look back.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a sincere need for Cassandra to be happy. This is my take on the "If Cassandra had found Rapunzel first" trope. I'm sure it has been done before, but why not have more of a good thing eh?
> 
> This is planned as a series of short-stories and one-shots, I might continue some of the concepts if my beta-reader slaps me hard enough.
> 
> Tell me if you liked it!


End file.
